Make Decorative Pumpkins for $3 and a Frappuccino

So I am beginning a new segment on Beauty in the Mess: Crafts and DIY. This fits for two reasons. 1) I love crafts and this finally gives me a reason to dust off all those ideas and make them. 2) At least for me, crafting is creating beauty from mess–you should see my dining room table right now. My husband is not going to be happy…

Right around this time last year we bought our first house. Fall rolled around and we did not put a single decoration up because we were too busy trying to figure out which box the mixer was in and where on earth I decided to hide my social security card for safe keeping.

Winter rolled around and it was the same deal. We didn’t even get a Christmas tree because we were visiting his parents in Mexico for the entire holiday season. So we have no decorations and next to no money to decorate, because of course after we had gutter guards put on out house and the landscapers take care of the jungle that had become our back yard, my tire collapsed and the electricity went out in one wall.

That and, well, I don’t like to spend a lot of money on craft supplies or decorations. So I’m going to help you (and me) create cute decorative pumpkins out of commonly found objects and 1 inexpensive purchase. And this is an easy craft that anyone can make! So without further ado:

1 plastic cup–I need one of those? Oh darn. Guess I’ll have to run get a mocha frappuccino. Anything for an excuse right? If cold Starbucks drinks are not your style, I also nabbed a couple plastic cups from Speedway. You can also use cardboard or styrofoam cups, but I chose plastic because it’s less likely to get dented.

2 domed lids–The dome is the important part here. It’s what’s going to give your pumpkin that nice pumpkin-y shape. Like my technical term there?

Durable scissors–You might wonder why I say durable? Well this part broke all of a minute after this pic was taken.

Random rocks–We use river rocks as a part of our landscaping, so I grabbed a few of those. You could also go to a river…

Tape–I chose Duck Tape because it sticks to the plastic really well, but feel free to use whatever kind of tape you have laying around.

Now that you’ve taken a walk to Starbucks and picked up your sticks, we’re ready to begin. I started with the base. I grabbed a dome lid and tape over the hole. I threw in a couple river rocks to give it a little weight and keep the whole thing from tipping over when someone walks by. Then I taped over the rocks to hold them in place. Next, I cut the plastic cup to the height I wanted and taped the bottom of the cup to the base. Now for the stem, I grabbed a twig and the other dome lid. You want the twig to pop out of the lid by at least a couple inches or you won’t be able to see it. I found the best way to tape it in place was to make slits and wrap the wings around the twig. See below:

I taped all around the twig on the inside and outside. Then I popped the lid on and taped it in place too. And the body is done! It doesn’t look great, but it doesn’t have to. No one will see it. 😉

Now for the fun, pretty part… and the money. I bought one yard of plain orange fabric at Walmart for $2.27. With that one yard I made all three pumpkins now sitting on my entryway table. You’re welcome to go as fancy as you like with the cloth–halloween prints or silk, if that’s you’re style–I was just going for cheap. I cut a square of cloth that when folded measures a little longer than the cup is tall from middle to flat side. Like so:

Then I stuck my cup in the middle of the square and gathered the fabric around the twig. I found it was easiest to gather all four corners and then pull in the center pieces. Now if you want to go real fancy, or if you have a touch of OCD like me, you can pull all the fabric so that it pleats in the same way. I used a piece of orange yarn to tie it all together, but this won’t be seen so use whatever you have on hand–a hair tie, a twisty tie, one of those annoy hanger straps that I cut off because they always show. For a final touch, I trimmed the extra at the top.

And voila! You’ve got yourself a beautiful decorative pumpkin! Feel free to experiment with other shapes and sizes to grow your own pumpkin patch.

To decorate my entryway table I added a little sparkly ribbon ($2.79 at Walmart), a few pretty leaves I picked off the trees, and a couple candles we’d won at a White Elephant exchange a few years back. I was thrilled with the result. I hope you will be too!

53 Comments

I feel a sudden urge to go to the coffee shop! What a great way to repurpose something we would normally throw away. Thanks for sharing with us on Welcome Home Wednesday! We would love to see you again next week!

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They would be perfect centerpieces. I am also going to be making a larger one to set near the fireplace. (And I’m sure the style will get much less minimalist as the years go by, but I’m just starting out.)

These are adorable and easy enough for the non-crafty like me! I love DIY projects that re-purpose items and since I have a slight addiction to Starbucks 😉 I just might have a few of these cups on hand!

Oh my goodness these are TOO cute! I love how easy they are to make and considering how frequently I go to Starbucks, I’ll have all the supplies for an entire pumpkin patch by the end of next week! Love it!

My mom is not crafty at all, but when she looked at this post, she said “Even I could make those.” I told her I knew. I’d wanted the tagline of the post to be “If my mom can make it, so can you.” It’s awesome that you’re able to do crafts with your mom! I hope you enjoy Nichole 😀

You could also make it even easier for kiddos by just using a 2-litter bottle. It won’t quite have the same round shape, but depending on their age, you might not want them sawing at plastic with scissors! Just be sure to put some sand, marbles, or pebbles in the bottom so it’s not easily knocked over.